Foldable wallet



March 18, 1952 F. e. DOBBS ETAL FOLDABLE WALLET Filed Dec EMF-Ti IN V EN TORS FRANK a. 005 as BY srEPHA/v h. 00 559 THEIR- AGEN 7'5.

Patented Mar. 18, 1952 FOLDABLE WALLET Frank G. Dobbs and Stephan H. Dobbs, New York, N. Y.

Application December 13, 1950, Serial No. 200,590

2 Claims. (Cl. 150-38) The invention relates to foldable receptacles, and relates more particularly to foldable receptacles of the type commonly referred to as wallets.

Desirable features of wallets include pleasant appearance, easy folding, and stiffness of the folded wallet to preserve the contents intact, and these features are generally found in wallets now in use. However, wallets heretofore made were deficient in that the so-called stay, namely the connecting piece between the inner flaps of the wallet, causes crumpling of the contents of the wallet after protracted use.

The reason for this unsatisfactory working of present wallets is found in the fact that the stay is either fixed to both pockets, or slides relative to one of them by being freely inserted there into. The fixed stay will, upon folding of the wallet, bulge inwardly, and thus may cause damage to the contents. The freely movable stay, on the other hand, after a certain period of use will not slide freely enough so that after a while the stay will not return to its assigned position in the pocket upon folding and will instead form an inward bulge between the pockets. This, in turn, will cause crumpling of the contents. It is therefore among the objects of the invention to provide a wallet that will retain without damage the contents upon folding of the wallet. This is accomplished, in accordance with the invention, by making the stay movable while detachably fastening it to the wallet exterior after folding.

Further objects and advantages of the inven-, tion will be set forth in part in the following specification and in part will be obvious therefrom without being specifically referred to, the same being realized and attained as pointed out in the claims hereof.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is an elevational view, illustrating the interior of a wallet in unfolded position, some portions of the pockets having been broken away to expose parts in back thereof;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an elevational view showing the exterior of the folded wallet;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3, showing the folded wallet having only a few contents (the contents not being shown); and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 4, but illustrating the wallet thickened due to voluminous contents (the contents not being shown) In carrying the invention into effect in one of the embodiments which has been selected for illustration in the accompanying drawings and for description in this specification, and referring now particularly to Figs. 1-3, there is provided a wallet generally indicated at II. The wallet ll comprises an outer wall l2 being foldable about the middle or midway section I3 between an open position (Fig. 1) and a closed position (Fig. 3). In front of the outer wall there are disposed two frontal flaps, a left fiap l4 and a right fiap I6 that are connected to the outer wall along their lower and their outer side edges, for instance by a stitching seam [1; however, the flaps l4 and I6, instead, may be connected to the outer wall by any other suitable means and operations, such as, for instance, by sealing.

The material of the wallet and its component parts may be either natural leather, or artificial leather, or plastic for instance of the thermoplastic type, or any other suitable conventional material.

The fiaps l 4 and I6 are spaced from each other for a gap [8 adjacent the midway section 13, to

permit free relative movement thereof during folding and unfolding. The frontal flaps l4 and I6 are, with the exception of the seam l1, separated from the outer wall, forming therewith along the outer wall a left pocket 2| and a right pocket 22. An intermediate flap 23 may be provided between the flaps I6 and the outer wall l2, forming with the flap IS a sleeve or pocket 24 closed all around except being open at 26 towards the gap l8. A flap portion 21 is disposed between the fiap I4 and the outer wall I2 forming therewith a sleeve or pocket 28 that is open at 29 towards the gap l8 and closed throughout the remainder.

There is provided a stay, generally indicated at 3|, that includes the flap portion 21 and is either connected thereto, or integral therewith as shown in Fig. 1. The stay 3| furthermore includes a wide portion 32 that is only slightly narrower than the fiap portion 2'! and bridges the gap 13 and extends to the interior of the pocket 24. The stay 3|, finally, also has a narrow, elongated portion 33 that may be connected to the wide portion 32 or be integral therewith, and extends from the free end 34 thereof towards the outer right hand side edge of the wallet.

It will be understood, that further flaps and pockets or other compartments may be provided in said wallet, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the instant simplified construction being described only for the purpose of clarification; conversely, the wallet may have fewer parts, such as pockets or compartments, than those shown; likewise, the terms right and left and similar terms are used herein only in an explanatory and not in any limiting sense.

The elongated portion 33 extends to the interior of the wallet from the pocket 24, through a slot 34 in the flap 23' and through a slot 36 in the outer wall I2. Near its terminal at the wallet the other end thereof.

This stay 3l-that comprises the flap portion 21, the wide portion 32 and the elongated por-.

tion 33--extends from the left end where it is connected by the seam H to the outer wall l2, towards the right end of the wallet and there beyond the confines thereof. The bottom of the flap portion 21 is fastened, by the seam I 1, to the edge of the outer wall, and is therefore substan tially immovable relative'to the outer wall and to theropposite pocket 24. The remainder of the stay; however, namely thewide portion 32 and theelongated portion 33, aremovable relative to the outer wall and also relative to the pocket 24, by the sliding of said wide portion 32 in said pocket 24, as well as the sliding of the elongated portion 33 in the slots 34 and 36.

The overall length of the stay 3|, as best shown in Fig. 2, measured from the left end to the'center of the snap fastener 3?, is indicated at b; it will be appreciated that. b indicates the length of the straight stay, though in the illustain places. The distance from. the left. end to The slot 42, and the width of the strip 43 are so dimensioned that the ends of the slot 42 will abut against the strip 43 in the extreme positions of the stay 3|. Preferably, the length of the strip 43 is so arranged that it will allow a certain play when the ends of the slot 42 reach abut- ,ment with the strip 43 in the extreme positions,

the center of the other part. 38 of the snap fastener is indicated at a. The dimensions of. the distances 0. and b are so arranged that when the wallet'is folded, the snap fastener parts 31 and 33 can be latched. Thislatching imparts a stress or tension, in the longitudinal direction,

stay substantiall independently of the contents that may be disposed in the pockets or compartments of the wallet. As illustrated in Fig. 4, the stay 3| is tensioned after the snap fastener parts 31' and 38 have been latched, this illustration showing a folded wallet with only few contents and therefore of thin shape. If the wallet is stuffed with a large amount of bills or other objects, it will assume the thickshape shown in Fig. 5.. Again, the closing of the snap fastener parts 31 and 38 will impart a tension to the stay 3|. The contents inserted in the wallet have not been shown in Figs. 4 and 5. in order not to confuse the view, and. only the various thicknesses of the wallet, caused by the contents, are brought out.

Inorder to restrain removal of the elongated portion 33 from the pocket 24, and at the same timeto limit the movement of theelongated por- .tion 33 in either longitudinal direction, there may be provided a limiting mechanism, generally indicated at 4!. This mechanism comprises a longitudinal slot 42 in the elongated portion 33 and'a strip 43 that is connected to the intermediate flap 23 and thereby tied to the entire right hand section com-posed of the right portion of the outer wall I2, the flap I6, and the intermediate flap 23. In a preferred embodiment, the strip 43 is cut out of, and integral with, the intermediate flap 23, severed therefrom by parallel cuts 44 and 46 that extend from the lower edge of the intermediate flap to points indicated at 41 above the position of the longitudinal portion 33. The strip 43 protrudes through the slot 42, and is during the manufacture of the wallet stitched or otherwise fastened to the said right hand section by the seam IT.

so as to permit yielding through bending by the strip 43 to prevent damage to the mechanism 4|. Where plastic is used for the wallet material, the resiliency of the strip 43 will enhance this yielding.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the novel principles of the invention disclosed herein in connection with specific exemplifications thereof will suggest various other modifications and applications of the same.

It is, accordingly, desired that in construing the breadth of the appended claims they shall not be limited to the specific exemplifications of the invention described herein.

Having thus described the invention, what we claim as new and desire to be secured by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. In a foldable wallet, having an outer wall, an inner wall including a flap member and a stay member associated with said outer wall and extending across at least a portion of the flap member and being movable between two extreme opposite positionstransversely relative to the latter, in combination with, means for guiding and fastening said members relative to each other while permitting said movement, comprising elongatedguidemeans on one member including a slot extending in the direction of said movement, and a resiliently yieldable elongated guide follower integral with the other member and extending therefrom and sliding in said slot to limit said movement yieldingly in either direction.

2. In a foldable wallet, comprising in combination, an outer wall folding about its midway portion, an inner wall including oppositely disposed'flaps separated from'each other by a gap adjacent said midway portion and forming with said outer wall pockets, and a stay extending from one flap across at least a portion of the second and being movable transversely relative thereto, said stay having a' slot, and resilient means intermediate said second fiap and said stay including an elongated elastic strap protruding through said slot for yieldingly confining the movement of said stay between two opposite extreme positions.

FRANK G. DOBBS. S'I'EPHAN H. DOBBS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,561,343 Michaels Nov. 10, 1925 1,840,212 Rolfs Jan. 5, 1932 1,856,703 Groom May 3, 1932 2,434,121 Pence Jan. 6, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 199,846 Great Britain July 5, 1923 509,413 Great Britain July 13, 1939 

